July: Scattered to the Four Winds

Happy Summer, gang.

Abby generated an AI image of her and Logan with their 'daughter.'

Without fail, July fills up fast, and this year was no exception - every, last weekend of this month saw the Houghs engaged in multiple social obligations. The Fourth of July at Eight Point Lake, Abby's Pom Camp, Brocation, Hoecation Momcation, Abby's Journalism Camp at MSU, a camping trip with my high school buddies, Alayna's week-long beach vacation in Beulah (with her boyfriend Sebastian's family), and a near-week long family camping trip (sans Alayna) with a few families from our tribe out in Caseville (which I'll be detailing in a few different posts in the coming days.) 

On top of that, both Alayna and Kris attended concerts this month, the girls (and Kris) continued to slave away at their jobs, and Yours Truly. . . well, I did the usual gym/bronzing/yard work thing I do during the weekdays.

The month was crazy to say the least, and consequently it went by in about, oh, ten minutes. I'm looking forward to when things slow down next month in August, when we don't have nearly as much going on. Of course, by then, we'll be gearing up for the beginning of the dreaded School Year, so that'll be the primary focus as we close out the summer.

In the meantime, strap yourself in and get ready for over a hundred pics and video clips detailing how all four members of the Hough family were scattered across the state throughout the month.

Enjoy. . .

Alayna has been wanting to get a tattoo of Watson's paw print since before he passed, back in November, and now that she's 18 she was finally able to put that idea into motion. I suggested she go to Brasscat Tattoo - the same place I've used a few times in the past - so she asked if I'd accompany her to her consultation, at the beginning of the month (where Brenton goes over the design idea with the client and they plan out the scope of the job.) He quoted her about an hour for the job, and asked if Alayna if September 5th would work for her. She, of course, asked if I'd accompany her to that as well, so I checked my calendar. . . only to find that I, myself, have a two-hour session booked with him that very same day (for some touch-up work on my sleeve.) So, in a couple months, we're gonna have ourselves a little daddy/daughter ink session over at Brasscat. We're both pretty stoked about it.

Alayna took this pic of some menacing storm clouds on her drive over to Covenant Hospital one morning (she's been volunteering there a few times a week all summer, in order to make job connections and gain hospital experience as she starts her pre-med career.)

One day Kris' co-worker picked up an order of drinks from their office from Bigby, and Abby just so happened to be the employee who served her, so they had to take a pic.

Abby recently completed her required driver's training this month, so Kris went out and bought a new magnet for the back of her car (hopefully it alerts other drivers in town to her Mad Max -style of driving.)

We obviously had to get a video of Abby's first solo drive in her car as a licensed driver. . .

We had some awesome weather towards the beginning of the month, and seeing how we weren't going to be around the weekend of July 4th (since we'd be up at the Lake), Mitch invited our family over to hang out in his pool one afternoon. Couldn't pass that shit up.

Abby, Kris and Ella, soaking their legs in some saltwater.

Mitch works on cleaning up his pool for the party he plans on hosting for the Fourth.

Alayna and Sebastian showed up a couple hours later, as we were getting out and preparing to leave. Of course.

Later that evening, hanging out at Sebastian's house (with his cat, Beans.)

My monthly round up, courtesy of Amazon Music. Good to see my roommates didn't screw up my algorithm his month.

The morning after the Fourth (a.k.a. My Birthday), we left the lake and drove home to Midland, and along the way Ella took a selfie (probably for social media, knowing these two.)

Samson made me hold him in the front seat for most of the ride home. He's a pain in the ass on car rides.

I'm not huge on birthdays (seeing how that this is my 46th one and everything) - the only thing I'm adamant about doing on my birthday is stopping off at a record store at some point in order to treat myself to some vinyl. Once we had settled in from the lake trip, I buzzed over to our local shop, Radio Wasteland, for a couple hours.

I sold back some vinyl I didn't want and was able to score a limited edition, Record Store Day release (the Circle Jerks one), along with a handful of used vinyl, and only spent like $20. Not too shabby at all.

Kris suggested we hit up Brinstar that evening for dinner, less for my birthday dinner and moreso because we hadn't had a time to run out and get groceries yet. 

Abby likes taking pictures of her food these days. 

While Abby was away at Pom Camp (the second week of the month), Alayna headed out for sushi with her buddy Sara one evening. The Cannonball loves sushi even more than I do, which is saying something.

Abby and Samson, hanging out in Alayna's room while she gets ready for a concert.

The Cannonball is a huge fan of the British rock band, Muse, and her and her friend, Cristina, bought tickets to see them at Pine Knob on the 13th. Cristina's mom took this pic of the two girls (and their edgy outfits) when Alayna swung by to pick her up.

They got lawn seats for the concert, so packed our trusty, tie-dyed beach blanket for the evening.

A bigger crowd than I was expecting for Muse (at least in 2026 - it would have been ten times this size about a decade ago.)

Teenage girls take a lot of selfies, folks - be ready for more.

Bloc Party was the opener. They're another British band that was big in the 2000s indie rock scene.

Another selfie.

Muse

She said they ended up standing for the entirety of Muse, which isn't at all surprising, that's kinda how lawn seating works for main acts at venues like this.

She also said the weed smoke was out of control at this concert. Again, not surprising at all.

We were a little nervous sending two, scantily-clad, teenage girls into the bowels of concertdom, all on their own. Buuuuut they ended up having a great time and there were zero issues throughout the evening, so whatever.

Fun fact: I went to a concert here at Pine Knob when I was eighteen, too. Grand Funk Railroad, with my buddy Sean. There was lots of weed smoke back then, too.

Peace signs.

On the drive back, patiently waiting for all the lines of traffic to ease out of the venue.

Whitewood and Waldo is under construction this summer. . .  again. The main work being done on Waldo, which is going to shut down that road until November (seriously), won't start for another couple of weeks. In the meantime, however, the stretch of houses across the road from ours had their outlawns ripped up in order to lay in some kinda new gas line. I was just happy it wasn't our outlawn again, that thing's been ravaged over the last couple summers with all the stupid work the city's been doing on our street.

Sisters, cruising around Midland

It was unbearably hot towards the beginning of the month, and we were over 100 degrees for three or four days. I had to document my dash screen's temp reading on my way to the gym one morning.

Another Abby selfie. Yes, her mirror is cracked (probably from slamming her door in a rage, knowing her.)

Coming out of that oppressive heat wave, we found ourselves in a couple-day stretch of horrible smoke, once again from Canadian wildfires.  

Smoky air and tore up roads. Living in Midland sure is fun these days. . .

Heading off to the gym one morning, the horizon barely visible due to the crappy air conditions.

Experts were advising folks to stay indoors, as being outside all day was equivalent to smoking multiple packs of cigarettes or something like that.

An eerie sun sorta shines over the suburbs on my drive back from the gym, a couple hours later.

Not ideal.

The Kings of the Hill were heading off to Brocation in a couple days, and would be crossing the Mackinac Bridge on our way up to the Upper Peninsula. Erik, who travels across this bridge a couple dozen times per year (he hunts up there), texted our thread this pic of the bridge in this wildfire smoke we'd been dealing with. Far from ideal, if you ask me.

One evening that week, the moms all went out to Gratzi, the fancy Italian joint downtown, in order to celebrate Courtney's 50th birthday.

I don't like this restaurant at all, but I don't like Italian food at all so that probably doesn't help.

Driving around in Alayna's car with Sophie and Samson.

The morning I left for Brocation, Kris took Alayna out for her wisdom teeth extraction. The surgery went fine, and she - as to be expected - was a lil' bit loopy as she came out of the induced sleep.

Loaded up in the van, ready to head home.

Alayna didn't seem as out of it as her sister was when she had hers done. At least that's what I'm taking away from all these videos.

Seems to be more concerned about her makeup than anything else, honestly.

Kris helping Alayna into the house. . .

Abby took all these pics and video (like Ella did when Abby had hers done.)

Out for the count.

My DnD group (comprised of multiple buddies of mine from college) has been trying to schedule a time to get Adam (another member of our old college crew) set up with his own character. Zack used AI to create this (fake) 80s Nintendo game cover to help entice him into joining us soon. This month - as you can tell from this massive post - was absolutely nuts this month, so we didn't have any time time play, unfortunately.

Not sure what was going on in the backyard with the dog, or why he needed a blanket.

The last day of Brocation, Kris drove Abby down to MSU for a week-long Journalism Camp (she was recently named an Editor for her monthly school paper, which is a big deal considering she's just starting her junior year.)

Abby and her two roommates (apparently they go to Midland High as well, but I forget their names.)

Inside their dorm room.

When Kris returned from dropping Abby off, she and Danielle drove out to Soaring Eagle Casino in order to see a concert. Originally, it was Danielle's husband, Morgan, who was to go - hence him not going on this year's Brocation - but he came down with a massive migraine and had been suffering in bed all day.

The Lumineers.

Another selfie. Just as bad as teenage girls.

The Lumineers were one of those 'stomp-clap' hipster folk bands from the 2010's (like Mumford & Son and Of Mice and Men) - they all kinda fizzled in the late 2010's but still tour, I guess.

When Kris and I attended a concert at Soaring Eagle - back in March - it was indoors, but I guess they hold outdoor concerts, too.

They both thoroughly enjoyed it - Kris said it was one of her favorites she's ever been to.

Meanwhile, down at MSU, Abby took a crap-load of selfies with the new girls she was meeting at the camp (like whoever the hell this is.)

One morning, on my way to the gym, I noticed that they had blocked off Mt. Vernon Street with three barrels, and someone had cut a one-foot-deep/two-feet-wide trench right through the concrete. This had been one of the ways out of our neighborhood since Waldo is shut down.

I turned around and contemplated taking Waldo anyway, since only one side of the road is currently under construction, but figured I'd try Whitewood instead.

Well, Whitewood was also closed by three barrels and a massive trench through the road, so I had no choice but to take Waldo, despite the road closure. I made it down to Ashman, then turned on to Swede to get me up to the mall area (where my gym is.) On my way back home, I had to park on the far side of the barrels and walk my gym bag home (about a block or so.) I asked a construction worker what was going on, and he said a fiber internet company had laid some cables down across the streets (Whitewood and Mt. Vernon), and they weren't aware that the city was tearing up Waldo. Essentially our entire neighborhood was boxed in, and multiple neighbors of mine went down and chewed out the internet crews, filing complaints with the city so that something like this doesn't ever happen again. Definitely a pain in the ass.

Abby and some other random chick at her Journalism camp.

Whatever this is, it looks like Play-Doh.

No idea.

Alayna took Samson over to her friend's Sara's house, where she moonlights as a pet groomer (I'm told.) They put some kinda 'calming' head gear on him in order to cut his nails, which he's notoriously bad with (he's been kicked out of two groomers in the past.)

Ultimately, it didn't help - he did slightly better, but he still fought them a ton. Oh well, looks like we're back to the vet for his nails. . . ugh.

Later that evening, bringing Samson by Sebastian's house so that our idiot dog could meet his cats. As could be expected, it didn't go well.

Abby and a couple other random chicks.

What's with these poses? Must be an Instagram thing. . .

Some building on campus?

Abby's ID badges for the camp.

Abby and some of her new camp friends.

(I think this was in front of their dorm, but I could be wrong - I just took all these pics off her Google Photos, I didn't ask about them.)

Back in Midland, I met up with my little brothers, Chris and Jeff, at Whichcraft (a local taproom) for a couple beers.

This place is one of my favorites in town, and I don't come here nearly as often as I should.

I usually go with a Flight at places like these (you get five smaller beers for the price of three pints, so you get to try more.)

That same morning, Kris had headed down to Three Rivers for her annual, poolside weekend that is Momcation. They have some kinda inflatable, beer pong table that the girls enjoy screwing around with in the pool.

Courtney and Kelli

The moms tried doing a bunch of viral 'moms' weekend' 'challenges' they had seen on TikTok (or something like that.) Whatever floats their boat, I guess.

Some chick (forget her name, she's one of Dani's friends, not a Midlander), Alicia, Dani (the hostess), and Kris.

They closed out their first night with some karaoke, which was just as awesome as you could guess.

This is the sorta stuff Abby posts to her socials these days.

Kris, soaking up the pool on Day 2 of Momcation.

The Moms. Front Row: Renee (Collier's sister), Dani, Courtney, Kris, Mees and Danielle. Back Row: Kelli, that one chick I don't know, Alicia, and Lori.

Alayna and Sebastian, out for ice cream the evening before they left for their week-long stint in Beulah (I'm told that's up by Traverse City somewhere) with his extended family. I think he's having a stroke or something in this pic.

Alayna and some of her snacks that she brought along for her week-long stint up north. She's not really a healthy eater, if you can't tell.

These two take a lot of selfies as well (now that I'm thinking of it, I guess I'm the only person in my family who doesn't take them - I usually prefer taking pictures of what I'm seeing, I don't have to be in them.)

One on the beach. . . somewhere.

In front of some lighthouse with Sebastian's twin brother's girlfriend and two of their cousins.

Out for ice cream in some small town's downtown strip (maybe that's Beulah?) the day we took off for Caseville (which I'll be sharing next.)

Towards the end of their stay up north, before they headed back to Midland. That wraps up July around these parts, folks - we'll see you guys next month for another round of pics and video. Stay tuned.

- Brian